The joy of getting inked with a fountain pen

livemint.com:

I choose one that’s a little stout, but fits snugly in my hand. “Now choose a nib." There are 14 kinds to choose from—Fine, Medium, Medium Flex, Medium Stub, Architect, Broad Ultra Flex and so on. Sensing my panic, he says, “Flex is for calligraphy really.

You try the medium or fine." The Broad actually feels smoother but he says, “I know it does. You can doodle nicely but if you write, it will blot on most of the paper we use here." Finally when I settle on a nib and a body, he says, “Now you can choose the colour." Like most Indians of a certain age, writing with a fountain pen was a rite of passage to adulthood. My mother remembers her father gifting her a red-and-black Sheaffer pen after her matriculation examination.

My sister and I both used my grandfather’s green and black pen as a “lucky" pen during examinations. But also like most Indians, it has been years since I used one. The Pen Mahotsav in Kolkata (held in April) wants to change that.

Kanwrite is one of 25 plus stalls at this year’s edition. “The fountain pen is almost going extinct. The younger generation only knows ball pens.

We are trying to change that," says Subrata Das, one of the conveners of the fountain pen exhibition. Many of the fountain pens on display are clearly trying to entice younger users. They are in bright candy colours—pink, blue, black and grey checks, multi-coloured.

There are inks in snazzy jungle shades. Elephant is purple, gorilla is red and turtle is turquoise. There are rare collector pens, pre-owned like Waldmans made in Germany since 1918.